The following description includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any of the information provided herein is prior art or relevant to the presently claimed invention, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
People commonly find themselves in circumstances where their hands are busy but they are nonetheless asked or would otherwise like to hold items. An example is when one person changes another person's diaper. Diaper-changing typically takes two hands as well as a bag to hold wipes, powder, clean diapers, dirty diapers, and similar. Even when there is a changing table, there often is not an adequate location for the diaper bag and it may not be desirable to put the diaper bag on the floor. Another example is when a person is traveling and needs to temporarily connect one piece of luggage to another, to a luggage cart, or to another surface, all while holding travel documents. Another example is when a person is hiking and needs to temporarily hang a bag or another item on a tree or ledge.
Carabineers have been used as an accessory to temporarily connect two items. In the above diaper-changing and hiking examples, while a carabineer can be connected to the strap of the diaper-changing bag or to a strap on the bag, the carabineer will not function well as a hook, to temporarily hook the bag to a table or to a ledge, when it is encumbered by the strap. Hooks are also used to hook one item to a surface or another item, though commonly the hook is permanently attached to one of the items. Most bags do not have hooks, nor would a permanently attached hook be a desirable accessory, as the hook would snag on items inappropriately and would likely not be viewed as fashionable.
Needed is a device which can be connected to and removed from a first item, which allows the item to be temporarily hooked or clipped to another object, and which can be folded to minimize the size of the device.